moon, Winters went up and crawled out on the limb
to bend it down, but when he got there it wouldn't bend far enough to
reach Minty Glenwood's window--him being a light-weight person, though
I've heard he got fatter later on. He couldn't jump on it, for fear of
waking up Aunt Melissy, so he came down and said I would have to go out
on the limb, and he would stay on the ground with the things, because I
was always pretty solid, even in those days. So then I went out and
crawled along on that limb, which bent down with me, all right, but
didn't quite reach Minty Glenwood's window, and I couldn't see how she
was going to get on it unless she jumped, which I never thought she'd
do.

[Illustration: SENT ME SAILING UP INTO THE SKY]

"But you never can tell what a young person in love _will_ do. She was
there waiting, all dressed in her Sunday things, with a big bundle of
what she was going to take along, and when I asked her, in a whisper, if
she could jump and grab the limb, she didn't wait to think about it, or
to give me notice to get ready, but just jumped, bundle and all, and
grabbed the limb with one hand and me with the other, and down we swung,
for Minty Glenwood was plump, too, and quite heavy with the bundle, and
then she let go and dropped, which I should have done, only I forgot
it, and a second later that limb sprung back and sent me sailing up into
the sky just about in the direction of the full moon.

"Minty Glenwood landed all right--on her bundle, I heard later--and she
and Winters had probably got a good ways on their wedding journey by the
time I came down in a brush-heap, where we had been clearing up a new
potato-patch. It broke my fall, but it was very stiff, scratchy brush,
and when I got out I felt as if I had been in an argument with Mr.
Wildcat. I was limping, too, and afraid I was injured internally, for I
didn't feel hungry, which is always a bad sign. I was taking on a good
deal, and making some noise, I suppose, for when I got to the shop and
was going to drag myself up to bed, I heard Aunt Melissy's voice call
out the window:

"'What's the matter with you out there? What have you been doing?' And
then all at once she gave a howl, for she was in Minty Glenwood's room,
and had suddenly discovered that Cousin Minty wasn't in her bed, and
hadn't been in it that night. About five seconds later she came tearing
out there in the moonlight and grabbed me and says:

"'What does this mean?' she says.